Anti-wind turbine group jumps to the defence of tundra swans and area rest stops they covet during migration

By John Miner, The London Free Press
After losing their battle to save a bald eagle nest from the chainsaw, anti-wind turbine activists are turning their fight to the tundra swan. “If we continue to allow industry to displace and destroy our habitat, we are really looking at an environmental disaster in the long run. It is not just the tundra swans, it is the geese, it is the eagles,” said Muriel Allingham of the Middlesex Lambton Wind Action Group.

An information rally is planned for 11 a.m. Sunday, south of Grand Bend at the Thedford Bog, where the swans stop to rest on their spring migration from the Chesapeake Bay area to nest on the Arctic coastline. The Grand Bend area, where thousands of the tundra swans can sometimes be viewed, also falls within two large wind farms planned by NextEra Energy, a subsidiary of U.S. energy giant NextEra, formerly known as Florida Light and Power.

At least one of the 80-metre-tall wind turbines is proposed to be sited within the bog area. Plans for the two wind farms — Jericho and Goshen — call for construction of 169 turbines. Allingham said the turbines will disrupt the swans’ migration route. “This Florida-based company is coming into our province and running roughshod over our wildlife,” Allingham said. Read article